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Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Behind the Beautiful Forevers Life Death And Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Author: Katherine Boo
Katherine Boo's first book "Beyond the Beautiful Forever" rises beyond journalism as it follows the life of a group of youngsters for a while in a slum called Annawadi near Mumbai's Sahar airport. The book has gathered great reviews already. Joseph Lelyveld called it the "best piece of journalism to come out of India in th...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780670086092
ISBN-10: 0670086096
Publication Date: 3/1/2012
Pages: 280
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 4
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Chocoholic avatar reviewed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope in a Mumbai Undercity on + 291 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This is the sort of book that a reader picks up on a whim, finds unable to put down, and thrusts into the hands of another when they're done, saying, "you have to read this." Because you do. You have to read this. This slice of life book is written so well that the characters come to life and the reader tends to forget that this is a work of nonfiction. This stuff actually happened. The book focuses on one slum of Mumbai, India and its inhabitants. There are good people and bad. All of the people are flawed in some way or form. At the end of the book, I found myself wanting to know more, wanting to know what happened to the families the author had caused me to care so much about over just a few hundred pages. Read this book. You won't regret it.
reviewed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope in a Mumbai Undercity on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A beautifully written account of the lives of several Annawadi slum dwellers, and of their attempts to raise their standards of living. A few do it by fair means, but most by foul. The level of corruption is astonishing, but in their eyes necessary for survival. This is not for the faint of heart, but it is a valuable look into a world few of us will ever see firsthand.
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reviewed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope in a Mumbai Undercity on + 2 more book reviews
This book is a National Book Award winner and one of the 10 Best Books of 2012 by the New York Times Book Review, written by Pulitzer Prize author Katherine Boo. On President Obama's list of recommended books. Emotional book describing the life and desperation in a ghetto of Mumbai.
reviewed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope in a Mumbai Undercity on
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It blows my mind that it's nonfiction. Katherine Boo is a talented writer. This is an easy and deeply moving read. I lived in India for a few years, and the intense poverty that Boo describes through the stories of these people is both accurate and devastating. I've passed this book on to multiple friends and family members, and will continue to do so.


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